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In the early weeks of the pandemic, Ryan Gosling received the film’s manuscript Hail Mary project A whole year ago Martian Author Andy Weir published a science fiction novel about space. The actor was hooked. While the world is on lockdown and facing an existential crisis, comes the story of a scientist and an alien named Rocky who work together, step by step, to prevent stars from dying across the galaxy. The timing couldn’t be more appropriate.
Gosling has acquired the rights to star in and produce a film adaptation of Weir’s novel. He brought on former Sony studio head Amy Pascal to help produce and put together key cuts in the spring of 2020, including hiring Phil Lord and Chris Miller to direct, with Drew Goddard later set to write. While the rights project was initially set up at MGM for $3 million, a formal deal agreeing to pay $190 million to produce the film didn’t close until after Amazon bought the formerly storied studio in 2022.
Six years later, the release of the film, which broke box office records worldwide, comes at a more opportune time for Amazon MGM Studios, which is on the verge of becoming Hollywood’s first major new studio in decades. It’s a feat she’ll achieve over the next year, if not sooner, when Helen Moss, former Paramount executive and newly appointed head of international distribution, completes building out an international distribution operation. (Kevin Wilson would continue to lead domestic distribution.) MGM lost its major status in the early 1970s when it became merely a local distributor. Sony handles international, for example, on Peace be upon you, Marywhile Universal dealt with recent events Association pictures and warnings, Doctrine series.
Soon, Amazon MGM will be able to reap the full benefits of having a global footprint. This also includes the possibility Peace be upon you, Mary sequel. Although there are no official talks underway between Weir and Amazon MGM, insiders stress that a sequel is not out of the question. (The business potential for Rocky, played by James Ortiz, is great.)
Both Amazon MGM and Weir’s representatives declined to comment on a follow-up book or sequel to the film. But sources close to MGM confirm that Weir is in the driver’s seat. The famous author has never written a sequel to one of his books before, and is currently working on a new mystery novel that has nothing to do with the novel. Peace be upon you, Mary. But he said he’s considering ideas for a potential sequel, though he doesn’t have anything strong enough for a book yet. (Both Weir and Gosling are repped by CAA.)
Even if the franchise is not born, Peace be upon you, Mary It brings a new level of credibility to the table regarding Amazon MGM’s standing in Hollywood. It’s that rarest breed of instant box office success, and few would have expected it, considering science fiction is one of the hardest genres to sell to a general audience.
The film is striking a chord with all demos – including mainly families – explaining its record-breaking release over the weekend of March 20-22. Peace be upon you, Mary It opened to $80.5 million in North America alone, the second-best showing in a decade for a non-sequel, non-franchise title behind Christopher Nolan. Oppenheimer ($82.5 million). On March 25, its sixth day of release, it surpassed $100 million at the domestic box office, bringing the early global total to $150 million.
Going forward, Amazon MGM, where Courtenay Valenti runs films and Sue Kroll runs global marketing, could be an attractive launching pad for talent otherwise facing the daunting prospect of a Paramount merger with Warner Bros. and fewer homes for their projects.
Peace be upon you, Mary He survived many ups and downs during the six years it took to appear on screen. It survived MGM’s 2022 sale to Amazon, which saw MGM co-presidents Mike De Luca and Pam Abdi depart for Warner Bros. After it was sold to Discovery. (Peace be upon you, Mary It was created at MGM when De Luca was running the studio solo.)
In an ironic twist of fate – at least Peace be upon you, Mary -Valenti soon left Warners for Amazon MGM. During her three decades at Warners, the humble and visionary production executive led the way Harry Potter Franchise along with many other hits. She was also in charge of Margot Robbie’s Barbiewhich famously starred Gosling as Kane.
He became Valenti Peace be upon you, MaryHe championed creativity and gave the official green light to the $190 million project. Kroll also spent a long period at Warners, involved in marketing attractivenessanother surprise sci-fi hit. Both executives know Lord and Miller from their time at Warners Lego movie privilege.
As for the directors, the duo has a strong relationship with Pascal, who has worked with them for a long time Cloudy with possible meatballs days at Sony, and more recently, at Spider verse films. The two directors also have a strong connection with Weir through Aditya Sood, who found out about it Martian When it was a self-published novel and he was working at Simon Kinberg’s Genre Films. (He now runs the duo’s Lord Miller banner as chairman.)
Lord and Miller hope to adapt Ware’s second novel for 2017 Artemisalthough it will be tied to the final Spider verse film for next year, and they have six more projects they are developing to direct. “There’s an Artemis script; it’s exhilarating. The thing that has held that back for years is, how do we implement one-sixth of gravity? The story is set on the moon. We think we’ve figured that out,” Miller said recently. THR.
The ending to Andy Weir’s 2021 novel was subdued, even with a hint of sadness. The film version exudes the same story but is more festive. The movie version makes it easy to imagine it being the starting point for a second book and a second movie.
“Every great franchise starts with a popular original film,” says Paul Dergerabedian, a box office analyst at Comscore. “The interest from fans poured in Hail project Mary and its over-the-top box office performance deliver to Amazon MGM what every studio executive dreams of: the rare and elusive newly minted movie franchise.
